Savings? What Savings?
2 08 2006Remember the days when your parents grilled you about saving money and took you to the bank to open your first savings account. Ahhhh yes, that was certainly a waste of your time at 10 years old now wasn’t it! Considering anything that was put in there was definitely GONE by the time you were 18.
Nowadays, not only do more and more people NOT save, they wouldn’t even know where to put money if they have it. (By this I mean it either sits under their bed or in their checking account, neither of which does them any good). I did some research and with today’s technology (and of course GOOGLE), it’s easier to save now more than ever.
Lots of banks now are utilizing the internet to their advantage, and able to cut a lot of costs that are involved in maintaining physical institutions and accounts by doing so. Now many of these financial institutions offer ‘online banking’ which used to be to strictly monitor your accounts and check balances, but now has evolved into opening accounts, paying bills, and transferring money from one institution to another. With the cost advantages of using strictly the internet and the natural pull for more business, such banks can offer excellent rates that haven’t been around for almost 8 years!
The best rate that I found for a regular SAVINGS account is with EMIGRANT DIRECT. Right now they are offering 5.15% APY on their savings accounts. Other great rates I found at:
All offering savings account rates at 5% APY or higher (some have minimum deposits amounts for such rate).
Other than savings accounts, many banks with these “online accounts” pass great rates along through CD’s or Certificate of Deposits. Best one I found was with WORLD SAVINGS at 5.51% APY for a 5 month CD. Other great offers are at:
Most of these offers are only for a 6 month certificate which isn’t a bad deal.
These online offers are for banks that are widely known nationwide. There are MANY more local banks that can offer higher yields, so check the website of a few of your local banks in your area. For a full list of nationwide banks with good offers on online savings and CD’s, check out the RESOURCES page of this site.
These sites are very easy to use and have excellent security features so you can rest assured. Now, granted you money won’t be as liquid as if you deposited it in your checking account, but if it was, you wouldn’t have that much savings for very long. Putting a little distance between you and your savings isn’t such a bad thing for those of us with little problem with spending control. In the event that you would partially or fully need access to your funds, they normally don’t take more than 24 to 48 hours to transfer back to your checking account that you initially transferred the funds from. All in all, it’s a great and simple way to save and build some good interest on money that other wise would be doing nothing for you sitting anywhere else with such little effort.
With this also came the creation of strictly ‘online banks’ which in the event that you hate talking to humans and have no intent to speak with someone (who speaks English) regarding your own money, I would recommend them. But then again if that is the case, I might recommend a few other things too, but that’s going off topic here.
And special Promotion:
http://www.trackpromo.com/MLBMMRATE
https://www.yourcreditunion.org/whatsnew/webspecialredcross.php
Can’t beat that, as of August 2nd 2006!
-vodkaSpy
This site has good rates too:
http://bankdeals.blogspot.com/2006/09/bank-deal-summary-for-september-9-2006.html
But thank you, PhillyFinance, for giving us info!
-Steven
Your site is cool, but a friend of mine also has this one: connect and see what synergy it will bring!
http://www.finance-weblog.com/
-Steven Burda